Obamacare: Denny’s to charge customers an additional 5% to help cover the costs of healthcare reform

A growing trend is emerging in the restaurant business as owners try to offset the costs of Obamacare; they are cutting the hours of their full time staff down in order to avoid paying the $2,ooo per employee penalty for not providing an insurance plan with which the government approves.

In what was a little known provision in Obamacare the definition of a full time employee was any person who worked over 30 hours, not 40 hours, so that means people who might otherwise be working 40 hours are now having their hours cut down to under 30. A double whammy for these employees who will now have to find a second job in this dreadful economy in order to make ends meet.

Add Denny’s to the list of companies who will be cutting the hours of some employees to offset the costs of Obamacare, but Denny’s is taking it one step further.

According to thisarticleDenny’s will also be charging their customers a 5% ‘Obamacare surcharge’ to help make up for the rising costs of doing business under the new healthcare law.

Naturally this will hurt their business as customers decide not to frequent these establishments, and I am one who would not go to Denny’s with this added charge, but management must have included this in the calculations and decided it was more beneficial to lose customers than it would be to provide healthcare insurance the company cannot afford.

Many people will be upset and blame ‘big restaurant’ for being greedy and uncaring but it must be remembered that this is the result of an over reaching federal government and it is all part of the plan to force the nation into a single payer system.

Wouldn’t it have been easier and less bureaucratic to have just raised the minimum wage to $100 per hour. Then Denny’s could just close their doors instead of jumpimg through all these hoops. Wouldn’t you rather not be making a $100 per hour than not be making $8 per hour? These Democrats have to make everthing so complcated. :-)

It is the unions that put the notion into the heads of the workers, that they WILL get away with this. Problem is, the employers are tired of being pushed around by the union higher-up thugs and are fighting back. Guess that isn’t working out so well for the unions now days.

This is what businesses do anyways Steve. If a cost, any cost is passed along to a business, they simply forward that cost to the consumer. So in the end, no matter how much the increases are, the business will either pass these costs on to the consumer, which will slow their business down, or simply begin the failure process. It just depends on how much that increase is as to what happens in the end… We have to have gas and food regardless of price, the public will pay these prices. Places like restaurants or hotels, are not so much necessities and will suffer the consequences of obamacare… Many other companies are also talking about cutting back on full time employees, if not eliminating them completely to avoid this disaster of a bill.

YOu are right Sonny, that is a point I was trying to make about increasing the costs on doing business. It always gets passed on to us and in this case it was government over reach which increased the cost of doing business and now ordinary Americans–who Obama says he cares about–are the ones who will feel this.

This is not surprising. Businessmen will not eat the additional cost and will simply pass it along to the customer. Margins at fast food places are not high and its the only solution for most of them. Who knows what the ultimate cost of Obamacare will be to the average american. The tab for all that free stuff has to be picked up by someone and there’s not enough millionaires to even make a dent in it. The average consumer will pay the cost not the rich who can really afford it.

For something that is free it sure seems to be getting expensive. I wonder how many people are going to hammer Denny’s ownership over this as being greedy instead of looking at what caused them to make this decision.

Free? Maybe for those who can’t afford insurance. My premiums went up 6 weeks after passage of obamacare, our open enrollment which just closed 2 days ago, shows my deductible on my self is now up 500 more, 1500 more on my family. copay up 5 per family dr visit, and 10 per specialist visit. What part of obamacare is free for me?

Let me see if I have this straight – Denny’s, previously famous for refusing to serve black customers, nos is going to cut the hours of all employees to under 30 to exempt itself from having to provide them with healthcare insurance, and to avoid government penalties for failing to do so.

It then will impose a 5% surcharge to each diner’s bill to cover the costs which is just avoided by cutting everyone’s hours . . .

Sounds to me like greed and extortion. I’m hearing lots of vague threats like this. Let’s see how robust these threats are once the bottom line becomes known.

Last night, I enjoyed a Dominoes pizza for the first time in a long time. We only have pizza once or twice a month at chez Georgia Yankee, but I’ll be damned if someone who’s planning to give away 2 million pizzas can start whimpering about the exhorbitant amount of four pennies per pie (the “cost” of Obamacare) is going to make any profit from me.

Again, it’s extortion – the American people made their choice, and it did not reflect the choice these bullyboys insisted we make. Now a handful of them are squealing about devising ways to hurt their employees in retaliation. It may work in the short run, but in the long run all they’ll do is drive away their best employees who will find betteremployers, the kind with integrity, to work for.

I fail to see what Denny’s previous policies, while vile and reprehensible, have to do with the current issue, but you are right; the American people made their choice and now these restaurants are making their’s and that is how it should be. The American people can no decide whether or not they will supports these people. As for me, I stated in this post that I would not support Denny’s for this and I am sure I am not alone, but they must have considered all these options when making their decision and they must have concluded that this was the best way to move forward. From what I have gathered restaurants have a small profit margin so it isn’t hard to believe that this will impose a cost on them which they can’t afford.

” the American people made their choice, and it did not reflect the choice these bullyboys insisted we make.”

Actually yankee, the people did make their choice, several times, 114 polls have been taken across the nation, since obama announced his healthcare plan, and by every national poll taken, the peoples choice clearly indicated they didn’t want obamacare, and want it repealed. 4 polls taken per month in every state across the country, over a 2 year period. You can argue with 1 or 2 or maybe even 5 polls, but 114? Yes, the people made their choice.

It wasn’t the entire company, it was one franchise. Here’s what John Metz, the owner, had to say about it:

““If I leave the prices the same, but say on the menu that there is a 5% surcharge for Obamacare, customers have two choices. They can either pay it and tip 15 or 20 percent, or if they really feel so inclined, they can reduce the amount of tip they give to the server, who is the primary beneficiary of Obamacare.”

Yes, he’s actually advocating taking the surcharge out of the tip.

I see that Conservatives on Fire says, “Wouldn’t it have been easier and less bureaucratic to have just raised the minimum wage to $100 per hour.” Actually, your waiter or waitress is probably making, bare minimum, $2.13/hour, depending on where you live. They’re expected to make it up through tips. Maybe Metz pays minimum, I don’t know. If he does, he could cut back on their pay.